Artist Statement

By: Joanna RutterThere’s always been a part of Korinna Sergent — a pull in her psyche that can’t come to fruition — impossible to express without art. There’s an urgency pursuing her when working. She and her materials belong to each other.When that pull and paint collide, powerful, dangerous women emerge on canvas; subversive, feminist deconstructions of typically decorative feminine symbols into terrifying figures who are in complete control of their surroundings. With Matisse-like brush strokes and bold acrylics, Kori brings ferocity to the feminine.Nurturing mentors cultivated and challenged Kori’s talent beginning in her sophomore year of high school. Under fibers artist Nick Deford’s instruction, she first uncovered her haunting feminine figures in a dream study. Deford also taught her abstraction and watercolor, and showed her how her works could be transcendent.Intentionally pursuing a more nurturing arts community, Kori moved to Greensboro a year and a half ago for her work. She’s been anything but inactive since her arrival in the Triad, choosing projects not for the notoriety they afford her, but for the depth of expression she’s able to infuse into them.This spring, Kori has collaborated with illustrator Beka Butts on a mural in the historic Washington Street district in High Point, and painted with students at Irving Park Elementary through the Greensboro Mural Project, all while preparing for a solo show coming to Urban Grinders in July 2016, which will visually reflect how she relates to Sylvia Plath’s raw, honest writing; she says that she and Plath have both created their best work out of disruptive trauma.

‘When life gives you something challenging, it really makes a fire in you,’ she says. ‘It’s a powerful creative force and you have to make something from it or it’s going to destroy you completely.’ It's by Florence Welch